Reduction of Russian gas transit price in Ukraine not on agenda yet

KIEV, December 25. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine and Russia are in talks over changing the Russian gas transit price through Ukraine, Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coalmining Eduard Stavitsky told a news briefing in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday.

“We are really in talks. But reduction of the Russian gas transit price is not currently on the agenda,” he said. He added that the gas transit price in effect “is taken into account in mutual settlements with our Russian partners until the end of 2014.”

Stavitsky noted that Ukraine and Russia had reached an agreement to reduce the gas price for Naftogaz Ukrainy to 268.5 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic metres starting from 2014 that “may probably affect the reduction of the Russian gas transit price in the future.” Meanwhile, “the time has not come for this yet,” he noted.